


Between the Pages

by Rycolfan (Snarryeyes)



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1540880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarryeyes/pseuds/Rycolfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan, an older college student, has found a new reason for visiting the on-campus library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Pages

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the 2012 Two Line Vocabulary Challenge on LJ's bythewayiluvyou community, incorporating two specific lines of dialogue.
> 
> Not real. No offense intended to those portrayed herein.

The Greenborough College Library was a modest, nice-looking building, set within a huddle of taller and uglier neighbors. Its position on the campus meant that there was always a constant stream of students passing through its doors, driven either by a mission for information concerning their latest assignments, a quiet place to work unimpeded, or a general love of reading.

Ryan pushed open the door and entered the hushed interior, breathing in that old book smell that seemed to epitomize libraries the world over. It was mid-afternoon, so it wasn’t too busy—just a handful of students, some murmuring quietly to their friends as they consulted heavy tomes, and the librarian who was behind the central desk.

Turning to the left, Ryan began to walk around the outside row of bookshelves and found himself in the Geography section. His green eyes idly scanned the titles as he passed through into Ancient History, where a couple of students were engaged in a whispered argument about the Mayan’s end of the world prediction for 2012. Trying not to roll his eyes, Ryan carried on. 

At twenty seven, he was much older than most of the other students and he frequently felt his years. He had decided to return to full-time education fairly recently, after being laid off from the factory job he’d had ever since his teens when he’d dropped out of school—more his father’s idea than his. In the current tough job market, with a hundred applicants for every vacancy, Ryan was hoping that some extra qualifications would make all the difference.

He came to the library most days. Although this had started as a genuine determination to ace his course, over time another reason had gradually superseded it—the man currently standing behind the desk.

The resident librarian was perhaps a little older than him, his hair thinning but his face youthful. He had a quiet manner, to perfectly match his occupation, and never seemed to lose his temper or resent his daily toil. Also, most days he wore a pale brown cardigan over his shirt, buttoned up in the middle, which Ryan had decided was utterly adorable. The word around campus was that the librarian was gay, which was encouraging, and Ryan definitely felt that vibe from him. He’d always been able to tell with other men, ever since he himself had come out at fifteen.

To date, Ryan had only exchanged a couple of words with him—he didn’t even know his name yet—but, one of these days, he was going to change that. He just had to wait for the right time. That was the excuse his brain had helpfully provided anyway. 

“Do you need any help?”

Ryan spun around at the smooth, deep voice to find the librarian right behind him. He blinked stupidly. “Huh?”

The other man smiled, creating two perfect dimples in either cheek, and gestured to the bookshelf Ryan was standing beside. “You’ve been loitering around the English literature section for the past twenty minutes. Are you looking for something in particular?”

Ryan searched his befuddled brain for an appropriate author and locked onto the memory of a conversation between a couple of friends after class. “Erm… Henry James.”

“Ah,” the man nodded, and walked a little way down the aisle. “Most of his works are over here. Which one are you after?”

A flare of panic engulfed Ryan and he quickly scanned the shelf, relieved to see that one of the few titles he knew wasn’t there. “Washington Square.”

“Hmm, I believe that’s already been booked out. Let me go and have a look for you.”

Seizing the opportunity to extend their conversation, Ryan said, “Okay, great,” and followed his companion down the aisle towards the desk.

Several taps on the computer confirmed that the book had been taken out by someone else so Ryan passed over his library card in order to reserve it. Well it was true that he’d never read it, he told himself.

“I’m Ryan, by the way,” he said, while his reservation was typed into the system in a flurry of fingers.

“I know.” 

Ryan wasn’t sure what to say to that, momentarily nonplussed. The other man must have noticed his confused expression because he held up the library card that Ryan had given him, his eyes twinkling with amusement, and Ryan immediately felt like an idiot. Of course he’d know. All of Ryan’s information was on the library computer.

“Colin.”

“Huh?”

Cringing, Ryan mentally slapped himself in the head. He seemed to be reduced to the verbal dialogue of a five year old.

“That’s my name,” Colin said, looking back up at Ryan with a soft smile while holding out his card. “And your book should be back in by Tuesday.”

“Thanks,” Ryan grinned, feeling a fleeting touch of soft skin as he took the card out of Colin’s hand. He wanted to punch the student who came up beside him at that moment and diverted Colin’s attention but, he thought as he reluctantly walked away, at least now he had a name.

~~~

Between classes and catching up with assignments, Ryan didn’t have a chance to go back to the library over the next few days but he returned the following Tuesday to collect his Henry James and was delighted when Colin instantly remembered him. He continued to visit every few days, gradually getting to know the man behind the desk and the cardigan, and slowly but steadily worked his way through the literary works of various authors—James, Dickens, Twain…

“You must be an ‘A’ student, Ry,” Colin quietly laughed upon Ryan’s umpteenth visit, handing over a copy of Great Expectations.

Ryan was used to his name being shortened—it was something that Ryan’s friends did all the time—but hearing it from Colin’s lips caused a frisson of pleasure to flare in his chest. “I just like reading,” he grinned, accepting the book, and he could have sworn that, when their fingers brushed together lightly, they briefly shared a connection that went beyond physical.

~~~

Over the following weeks and months, Ryan took to hanging out at the library around closing time. He enjoyed helping Colin to put piles of returned books back in their rightful places and used the time to chat about anything that came to mind, finding himself enjoying their wandering conversations more and more. It was also a constant source of amusement that, even with the library completely empty except for the two of them, they still felt the need to whisper. 

The Thursday evening before Spring Break, Ryan was there once again. Carting a trolley full of books around a deserted library would seem pretty boring to anyone else but, for him, it was better than drinking himself stupid with the guys at some bar. They’d almost finished when Colin found he couldn’t quite reach one of the top shelves to replace a heavy book on astrophysics.

“Here,” Ryan said, holding out a hand for the book as he walked around the trolley. At 6’6, he had the height advantage.

“Oh, thanks,” Colin said, smiling gratefully. “There is a ladder but it’s a pain to haul around.” He sighed as he handed the book over. “I wish students wouldn’t check these ones out.”

Ryan reached up past Colin, effectively trapping him against the shelves as he replaced the book, then paused as he suddenly became aware of their close proximity. Colin had stilled, his hazel eyes locked on Ryan’s face, his lips slightly apart, breathing perhaps a little more rapidly.

“Do you mind if I check _you_ out of the library?” Ryan asked softly.

A slow smile tugged Colin’s mouth upwards. “I thought you’d never ask.”

An elated smile bursting forth, Ryan dipped his head and kissed him. Deceptively strong hands crept up to grab his shirt and pull him closer, but it was a distant sensation in the midst of a kiss that surpassed all of his expectations.

Aware that he was pressing Colin back into a row of hard-edged books, Ryan tugged him towards the table that sat in the middle of the aisle and which was still littered with the detritus in the wake of the day’s tide of students.

“Hang on,” Colin said, breaking the kiss abruptly. With a dramatic sweep of his arm across the table, the mess flew onto the floor and scattered. He then sat on the edge of it and pulled an amused Ryan back towards him. “I saw it in a movie once,” he shrugged, smiling a little sheepishly.

Laughing, Ryan wrapped his arms around him and murmured, “You’re perfect.” 

He met Colin’s soft lips once again, melding against him and slowly sinking down, and there, in the center of the astronomy and astrophysics section, Ryan saw stars of a different kind in a long awaited embrace.


End file.
